Because I Said So
by ravage.repair
Summary: Tifa leaves Cloud with Marlene and Denzel after being fed up with him being gone all the time. Now she wants back in, only after Cloud had finally adjusted himself to this new way of living. CloTi
1. Chapter 1: The Phone's Ringing

Cloud's hands are stained with dishwater and he's sick of his tender skin after each round of scrubbing, he's sick of kissing Marlene's forehead, and sick of ordering Denzel around, and he's sick of sleeping in an empty bed. His temples throb but he skips the medicine and falls right asleep, his phone by his side, his shoes half way off his feet, his hair messed and fluffed around. His eyelids are heavy, he doesn't even want to think about opening them. He was up late again, washing, and picking up, and cleaning. He's went from carrying a sword to caring for children, he's went from fighting, to dealing with fighting. Cloud's phone goes off, he's almost asleep so he thinks twice about picking it up but absentmindedly does so.

"Hello?" he mumbles into the phone, unable to grasp the word so it comes out slurred.

"Hi," a voice on the other line says gently, "How are you?"

It's been awhile since he's heard this voice, it's been awhile since he thought about the girl on the other line; _it's been awhile._

Cloud sighs, his eyes are closed, he's playing dead tired but his head is screaming **awake,** "I'm fine, how are you?"

"I'm… not alright." She mutters and pulls a strand of hair behind her ear, "I'm glad you answered your phone."

Cloud cringes because he's being sympathetic, he's never sympathetic, ever, "Yeah, ah, sure, listen Tifa I've got to work tomorrow and I had a long day-,"

"Cloud!" she cries out, "Your day was long- What did you do?"

Cloud raises an eyebrow, "Not much." His finger reaches for the red button on his phone.

**Hang up.****  
Hang up.****  
Hang up.**

"I just, dishes, laundry, whatever." He shakes his head after the second one, he sounds like a house wife and that irritates him, "You shouldn't call here Tifa." His voice is stern, he wants to be hard with her but it's taking all his strength, "Ever."

"I know, I know," she mumbles, obviously those words upset her, "But I miss- being around."

"Then why'd you go!" Cloud snaps and hangs up the phone, unwilling to wait for her answer. He breathes deeply, trying to be quiet but theirs a lot of anger brewing inside of him; it's taking all his might just to **not **punch the wall in front of him. For a second he thinks he should call her back- but that would be stupid? He sighs and goes back to bed- another night he won't sleep well.

-

Tifa feels the smoke run through her lungs and she feels cramped in the tiny one bedroom apartment. Her phone is spilling from her fingers, her body from her top; this is another one of those nights where she's a tool and that leads her one inch closer into a breakdown. She holds herself tight- stares at a sleeping Reno and cringes with the thought of him waking up tomorrow. He was a working man who could never work as hard or pleasantly as Cloud. He had a cold touch, not a warm one, and he was _too_ friendly, talked _too_ much.

"Everything okay?" he mumbles, scratching his chest and turning to face Tifa.

She nods slowly, "Yup, just fine!"

Reno takes the phone from her hands and sets it onto the end table next to her bed. His hands trace her back giving Tifa chills. He wants to embrace her; he knows that everything is **not** fine but why question the girl, she is notorious for mood swings. She pulls away from him and rests her head on the pillow. She's got her mind set on two blue eyes, she's going to go home, one of these days.

**A/N: Sorry it was a little boring. I'm just trying to throw the main point out there. I'm open to feedback; I'd love to hear what you think about it so far!**


	2. Chapter 2: From The Window

Cloud runs his fingers through his hair, he has to get up and go make breakfast, he doesn't want too. His toes are numb, his body his numb, and his mind is numb. The walk downstairs is longer then it should be and Marlene is already up. She's got pans and pots out all over the kitchen and on top of stoves. Theirs flour on her face and she smiles at Cloud when he walks into the room.

"Hi Cloud!" she says waving her hand at him and turning back to an open book, "I thought I'd make breakfast this morning so you didn't have too!" Her voice is sweet and caring, Cloud always enjoys when she does these types of things since even though she's young, she is a much better chef then Cloud is.

His mouth twitches into a smile and he has a desire to hug her, but instead he nods and stares over everything she has in bowls and pans, "Looks good Marlene! Thank you for doing that!" He ruffles her hair and takes a scoop of something sweet and licks it off his finger, "It's gonna be good."

Marlene smiles, pleased at her own achievements, "Well you'll just have to wait and see!"

"Hey," Cloud pipes in licking his lips, "Where's Denzel?"

"Still sleeping," Marlene sighs and pulls out a giant spoon, "He said he didn't feel well or something, so I just let him be."

Cloud nods and paces the room, he should brush his teeth, he really, really needs to brush his teeth, "Oh, alright."

Marlene notices that Cloud is distracted, probably thinking of something mindless but deep down he's thinking about something real important. She's sort of nosy and has a desire to ask him what's on his mind but she just turns back to her work and ends the conversation. She'll go wake Denzel up when it's time and she'll let Cloud relax until then.

Cloud stares over at her, hard working, he wants to help but he doesn't want to taint anything, "I'm going to go take a shower quick!" He rushes upstairs, he knows Marlene doesn't really care what he does and she shouldn't because she's occupied.

The water hits him like a brick, it's not relaxing how he imagined it, it's just painful. He runs his finger through his tangled and matted hair and pulls out a few of the knots. He curses underneath his breath because working them out is kind of painful. He thinks he should go wake up Denzel but really he's thinking about Tifa's call. How rude of him was it to just hang up- how rude of it was her to just leave? Who is she with? Why is she sad? He curses a few more times and gets out of the shower- quickly drying himself off and running into Denzel's room. Denzel's still asleep, his mouth is hung open just a little bit and he's unconsciously mumbling something. Cloud shakes him nervously hoping he'll wake up quickly, he doesn't so Cloud shakes him a little harder until he see's Denzel's eyes flutter open.

"Wha-?" Denzel mutters wiping the sleep from his eyes.

"Good morning!" Cloud says brightly, making Denzel cringe in fear, "Marlene is cooking breakfast, it should be ready soon so why don't you take a shower quick and run on downstairs."

Denzel stares up at him, Cloud's mood is off, his tone of voice is, there is just something completely wrong with him at the moment. He's chipper, he sounds lonely, he sounds like he's masking everything with _happiness?_ Not a Cloud move at all.

"Okay." Denzel says nodding his head and stepping out of bed.

Cloud nods and stands there for a few seconds before removing himself from the room. He sighs when he gets outside the door and falls to the floor covering his face with his hands. He's not crying but he wishes he could be. Today is a good day for him, Marlene is cooking, Denzel is cooperating, he's happy, **really** happy.

Breakfast is silent except for Marlene telling her daily plans and Denzel's mindless babble. Cloud kind of wants to go to with Marlene but he decides that is a Yuffie thing and knowing Yuffie, she'll show up any minute for some food and some laughs. Cloud thinks about something he could do with Denzel, when nothing comes to mind he realizes he should be out today. He needs to meet Vincent and some other men, some things are happening and they're going to need Cloud's help to fix them. He stands up from the table and pours his dish into the sink, he wants to ask somebody else to do the dishes but he knows that's his job. He chuckles at that, dishes? Cleaning? His job. Marlene's next to him scraping off excess food into the trash and then dumping her plate next to Clouds. He bends down so that he's her height.

"You gonna take off today?" he asks, receiving a nod from the girl, "Well you just be safe then, okay?"

_You just be safe then, okay?_

The words mock him as they fall off his tongue, they mock him endlessly and he wishes he could take that whole sentence back. He touches the side of his cheek like it hurt for him to speak. Marlene kisses his other cheek and he drops his fingers. She runs out of the house yelling okay to him and he sees her meet up with Barret who was just coming up the driveway. They walk off together, Barret probably has something to say to Cloud and will be back later. No sign of Yuffie but Cloud trusts Denzel on his own so he just gathers his things and heads for the door leaving Denzel at the kitchen table clearing off plates and cups and things.

The clanking glasses remind him of his dire need for a drink, maybe later today he would stay up later then normal and reminisce on his life, maybe call back Tifa just to add to the effect. Then he thinks about Denzel and Marlene, they'd want to talk to her, it would be unfair of him to call her and not let them talk with her. He shakes his head because it's still his life, those two don't have to be part of everything, besides Marlene would be with Barret all day, he was more a caretaker then Cloud ever could be, and Cloud could call Tifa during the day instead. He wouldn't feel so guilty then, knowing that Marlene was distracted by Mr. Wallace and as for Denzel, well that was a whole different story.

He clutched his cell phone in his hand as he walked through the town. People were outside planting, playing, doing whatever because it really was a lovely day. He sighed and turned a couple corners until he found what he was looking for. He waited outside of a minute, tapping his foot gently, until he was ready to walk in and start his day. He never liked being the center of attention which is why normally he's early to these gatherings but today he wasted all that time with petty thoughts and now everybody's staring at him and muttering hello's just to be polite. This group was not the friendliest bunch and Cloud liked it that way, he fit right in although he himself had to admit that he had become quite the softie.

**A/N: THANK YOU to everybody that read, reviewed, alerted, etc. I really appreciate it! I'd love to know what you think so reviews are welcome! :)**


	3. Chapter 3: Bang, Bang

It was late at night before Cloud arrived home. He assumes that somebody had put Marlene and Denzel to bed but then he decides they would have taken advantage of this and stayed up late. The house was fairly quite when he walked in, no cartoons, or giggling, or banging pots, just faint snoring coming from the living area. He walks deeper into the house only to discover Denzel asleep on the floor and Marlene on the couch, her hand flopped over the side, her arm too short for her fist to sweep the carpet. Cloud sighs and sits down next to her gently stroking her soft brunette hair. He's muttering things that he's to tired to comprehend. Denzel overhears and awakes; he obviously wasn't sleeping all that hard. He rubs his eyes and stares over at Cloud with a smile. Cloud tries to smile back, but it must come out awkward because Denzel turns away quickly and stands up still rubbing at his eyes.

"Sorry, we must have… fallen asleep." Denzel mumbles and begins to pick up his and Marlene's mess on the floor.

"No problem," Cloud says, "I'll just bring Marlene into her room and then go do the dishes an-,"

"Done." Denzel says, throwing a wrapper or two into the trashcan.

"and pick up the stu-," Cloud starts.

"Done!" Denzel chimes, waking up a little more.

Cloud raises an eyebrow, "You did everything?"

Denzel nods, "**We** thought you would be tired." He's quickly rinsing out a glass and throwing it into the cupboard.

"Thank you." Cloud says scooping up Marlene and beginning for Marlene's bedroom "Thank you very much."

Denzel smiles to himself and yawns, he quickly finishes so that he can find his own bedroom and sleep. He's very, very tired, and he doesn't feel very well, the normal problems are bothering him and he's missing the way Tifa would nourish him back to health. He doesn't even think twice about asking Cloud for that kind of help- he wants Cloud to think of him as mature and capable young man- one that doesn't need help fixing his own wounds or somebody making him feel better when he's down.

Tifa's watching from the corner of her eye as Reno throws down another hand, coughing and laughing with his friends. She's tired, she's dying to sleep, the apartment is much too small for him to be throwing wild parties all the time, if he wasn't ready to settle down he shouldn't have hooked up with her but ohh… she remembers that once upon a time when they met she was a party girl looking to escape from having to settle down. Mentally she keeps beating herself up for that one; it's become a daily thing versus a weekly thing. As the days drag longer she misses her old 'family' more and more, even if none of them were blood related. She reaches for her phone thinking about contacting Cloud again. Their conversation ended on a bad note and she found some other ways to approach him this time. Maybe he wouldn't hang up but then again, maybe he wouldn't answer. She calls anyway and four rings later she about gives up when she hears the familiar stone cold voice on the other line.

"You can't keep calling," it mutters, dark and mysterious, no sweet hello.

Tifa sighs and slips into her chipper, bubbly attitude, its okay to play bimbo once in awhile because it makes Cloud curious to how much she's changed, hopefully curious enough to invite her out, "I know but we didn't end on a good note… I wanted to apologize?"

"Not accepted!" Cloud yells through his whispering, trying hard not to lose his cool and wake up the two sleeping children.

"And why not?" Tifa questions, irritated, about to blow a mental fuse.

Cloud reaches for the red button; it takes a click, a SIMPLE click.

"Don't hang up again… Please?" Tifa sighs, "I made mistakes- you make mistakes! You were never home! Can you blame me for not wanting to deal with everything on my own? Can you blame me for putting the things I had dealt with day after day on you?" She's growing angry but she doesn't want Reno's drunken friends 'checking up' on her so she tries to keep her voice down.

"I can blame you all I want." Cloud says through clenched teeth, "For everything you've put me and them through, I can blame it all on you because it's YOUR fault." He's speaking above a whisper, still under a yell, he doesn't even care anymore.

"Go ahead Cloud, but blaming me will get you nowhere- I want to come back, I want to help." Tifa pleads, "I should be able too, and after all, they were left with me- not you."

"Yeah but I stayed with them!" Cloud slurs, growing tired and bored of the conversation, "You're being melodramatic; you're being irritating; you're irritating me!"

Tifa hangs up the phone and chucks it at the wall; she stands up and throws some clothes in a bag then walks out of the bedroom into the path of cackling and easy going men. Reno doesn't stare up at her, a few others do. As she heads for the door the man keeps his mouth shut and she knows it's because he never really felt anything for her anyways- he'd much rather be with that other girl, the one who won't go out with him. They were just each other's second bests but now she's going back to get her number one- somewhere deep down she thinks settling might be a better idea.


End file.
